LEGNANO – The President of Legnano Baseball Softball Maximum Gioachini drew up a balance sheet of the red and white club’s activity in 2021, also taking a look at the new 2022 season that will begin with the arrival of spring.
A club, the one from Legnano, which boasts a very large number of members, among the highest in Italy: “Just before Christmas – let the top red and white manager know – the Italian Baseball Softball Federation has drawn up a ranking on the members of the affiliated companies and ours is in sixth place nationally in terms of the number of Under players (from 5 to 18 years old). This is a good leap forward if we think that last year we were in ninth place for the number of members in general. And it is fair to remember that in 2018, when we left, we had about forty. The whole group works constantly in the dissemination of our sports in the area”.
The development of the youth sector, on which a lot of work has been done in recent years, also thanks to a fundamental recruitment and marketing work: “We are carrying out an ambitious project with the aim of dividing the minibaseball – explains Maximum Gioachini – Currently the team is made up of girls and boys aged 5 to 9 but, as we have seen in the last two years, putting children with such a varied age in the same group has created some problems for the little ones who deserve a training session. dedicated.”
For this reason, from next spring the club will be able to count on a sector dedicated to Kids Baseball for children of 5 and 6 years, followed by an ISEF instructor and an animator for motor starter meetings and playful games that lead back to baseball, one dedicated to Minibaseball for children aged 7 and 8, with the aim of playing, having fun but also growing sportingly and one Pre-competitive for 9-year-old children in which space is always left for fun and play, but with an eye to technical growth with training.
“Cas I anticipated – adds the president of Legnano Baseball Softball – it is an ambitious project, as to achieve the goal of having three teams in the mini-baseball, a further increase in members is required. This is where the marketing and the recruiting group come into play, which are developing campaigns for next spring and September 2022 for each individual age group. “
To complete the picture of the sector there are the female athletes and athletes aged 10 to 18 years: “For us, youth teams are the lifeblood of the movement, as well as the future of senior teams – points out Games – All the technical staff of Sacco Legnano he was born in Legnano Kemind monitors, collaborates and works all year round also with the Under categories to guarantee technical growth for all our athletes. One of our baseball or softball members has the opportunity to come and train every day: he will always find a technician and a team available. If for the 2022 season we will have the 3 Under 18, Under 15 and Under 12 youth teams for the baseball sector, for the softball sector we will be able, after the re-foundation of 2018, to enroll one of our teams for the first time, the Under 15 team, and we are also evaluating the feasibility of registering the Under 13 team in numerical terms.
The entry into the company of new managers and collaborators is important, who support the work of the team of Cuban coaches: “Apart from the Cuban coaches, who are salaried, the association’s managerial and technical staff are voluntary. We are a fair number, but we always need new motivated people in our educational project, both for the inevitable turnover, and for managing with the highest quality the numerous aspects and roles that the project is carrying out. Immediately after the Christmas break, an activity will begin with the parents of our athletes, proposing training courses for different figures necessary to follow our teams: managers, companions, classifiers, assistant coaches, photographers and social media content creators. We will also look for people who can help society during the organization of events, as well as resources for the kitchen and the bar“, Adds the President of Legnano, who also announces some news that could soon see the go:”An important objective that the company has set itself for the next two years is, with the help of parents, to support and manage the collaboration with associations present in the area for the realization of projects sportsmen and of inclusion social. Then there is a dream in the drawer, that is to finally start a project to begin in Legnano il baseball for the blind“.
Maximum Gioachini then draws a balance sheet at a sporting level, after a season that saw the return of the baseball in B series, even if the difficulty of the championship did not allow the team to save itself and remain in the category: “The Serie B for baseball was the main novelty this year. A championship that required enormous efforts both from an organizational-corporate point of view and for our players who faced a tournament with a double match for the first time. We paid for the lack of experience in a high-level group and a low technical quality to compete. A relegation has arrived that hurts, which undoubtedly regrets. But this must be a starting point and a precious opportunity for the growth of our members in the coming years“.
The speech of the Softball A2 Series, where a similar path in the playoffs was not followed by a regular season to be framed: “Analyzing the A2 championship of the softbal teaml – comments Gioachini – I find myself in the typical situation in the school world, the one that many parents hear at the interview with the teachers: ‘Your child is intelligent, but he does not apply’. Our team has quality, it has potential, but it has to do more, filling in some details to become a winner. We won our group with four games ahead of the second classified, but in the playoff semifinal, there was no desire to ‘devour’ the opponents“.
The thoughts of the white and red President can only go to next season and the goals that the team has set itself: “The corporate goal of the team softball is to show up in April for the start of the championship with great enthusiasm and in top psycho-physical condition to play our best softball and reach the playoff final. The dream then is to conquer the series to get the only ticket available for the promotion to the A1 2023 championship. Leadership of the A2 team will still be entrusted to the manager Hector Fernandez. For the baseball, the main objective is the technical growth of our young athletes. In November, the company considered whether to request a repechage for Serie B as there were four seats available. The choice made is that of register for the Serie C championship precisely in order not to have a reinforced roster that would have led to our athletes playing poor shots without letting them express their potential and highlighting their improvements. The leadership of the Serie C team will be entrusted directly to the manager Javier Mendez“.
The Legnano Baseball Softball it also thinks about investing in its own field. Legnano has a structure that many other clubs envy us, but first of all you need the renewal of the agreement with the Municipality of Legnano, owner of the “Peppino Colombo” Stadium: “In January we will meet with the municipal administration for the renewal of the concession of the field. With a view to making investments on our part for the structure, it is the will of both parties to sign the concession that exceeds the current duration of two years. The desire to invest in the plant is great, we have already obtained a loan with the sports credit for the refurbishment of the bar / kitchen. The goal for the next few years is the creation of a receptive area within the facility to best accommodate teams, family, friends and spectators.“.
In closing, a mention of the international and national events who have always seen the “Peppino Colombo”: “Also for this year the partnership with Dream Team will continue to organize the Memorial Vittorio Pino and mini tournaments with college USA Tour. In June the Tournament of the Regions and our field will be used to host games. We are also always available to collaborate with federation ed welcome the national team for rallies. All this will be possible based on the progress of the health situation, which does not imply restrictions or closures “, concludes the President Massimo Gioachini.
